cozumel mayan ruins activity question

[alicia1506]

so, we'll be on the fantasy on nov 24th for a 7 night western cruise.

as we're flying into the usa from australia, we're excited about visiting the mayan ruins in cozumel, however i note that the DCL port adventure for the chacchoben ruins is 4-4.5 hrs and we're only in port for 4.5 hrs. so it's do that, or something else, but not both...

has anyone else done this port adventure? did you like it? was it worth the time? would you have preferred other ruins in other ports? is it worth the money? were they good about getting you back on time? do you recommend other port adventures/shopping etc?

from the various trip reports i've seen on here, a lot of people go to the beach or do various water activities etc. i've yet to hear too many reviews of these kind of adventures, and we really want to go, but don't want to waste time/money if it's no good...

any help/info/advice/suggestions would be greatly welcomed

 

[wilma-bride]

I will be interested in the answers as DH and I really want to do this excursion also.

One thing I can say is that, as long as you book the excursion through DCL, you will be fine even if you are late getting back. I am pretty sure that, as long as you are on a DCL excursion, they will not leave without you.

 

[NancyIL]

The Chacchoben Ruins tour is from Costa Maya, not Cozumel. I went on a private tour to the Chacchoben Ruins in 2005, and it was wonderful. However, DCL has such short port times in Costa Maya that I will book this tour through the ship when I sail on the Fantasy.

DCL lists the ashore time in Costa Maya as 12:45, and 5:30 is the all-aboard time - with departure about 30 minutes later. You're right that if you do this tour, you won't have time for anything else.

There are also Mayan ruins one can visit from Cozumel - with the longest tour going to Tulum on the mainland.

 

[clten]

We loved the ruins tour from Costa Maya. (We've also done the Tulum tour from Cozumel and the ruins on Cozumel but the Costa Maya ones were our favorite.) There really isn't a whole lot to do in Costa Maya anyway. I wouldn't be too upset to just do this tour and "miss" the shopping. But definately do it through DCL and not on your own. We have been on tours where they have had to hold the ship if their tour was running late (so more likely you won't miss the boat).

I am pretty sure that, as long as you are on a DCL excursion, they will not leave without you.

It's not that they guarantee that they won't leave without you, they guarantee that they will get you back to the ship (at their expense if they have to leave). They will hold the ship as long as they can. But if it is a delay they can't wait out (for some reason, you are hours late and they need that time to sail to the next port), they will sail and fly/bus/whatever you to the port.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

As stated previously there are two different ports for ruins: Costa Maya (which is the short port time) and then Cozumel.

I'm going on the Fantasy two weeks from today and am considering the Costa Maya Adults Only tour. Since it's such a short port time, I'd be nervous about doing any other tour besides DCL. If they were there longer, David and Ivan from Native Way Tours have a wonderful reputation.

I did the Tullum Ruins back in 2007 and loved it, but it is a loooong tour. Much of it is the ride there which included a very bumpy ferry ride, a downright march through Cozumel in the heat, and then the long bus ride where the tour guide built up to the stop at a tourist stop to buy "stuff". Interestingly the bus ride back was way shorter...

Still I very much enjoyed the Tullum Ruins as I'm totally intrigued by ruins.

Just found my old 2007 Trip Report which describes the Tullum Ruins tour in Cozumel (sorry don't have the photos that were in the post any longer) Just scroll down to get to the Tullum part...

 

[NWmom]

Holly,
Loved your TR. Fantastic sense of humor and good info on the things you talked about.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Reminds me that I never did finish my trip report....LOL

Maybe I'll do one for my April trip in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! (excited much, no...)

Anyway, if I do go on the Costa Maya ruins tour, I'll let the OP know what I thought of them. (if she will promise to smuggle me in her luggage for the trip back to Australia)

 

[helenb]

We're doing a private tour to the runis in Cozumel and the DCL tour to ruins in Costa Maya. Since our cruise is in June, I'll let you know how it goes when we get back!

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

We experienced both the ruins in Cozumel and Costa Maya on The Fantasy MV.

I would recommend the Costa Maya trip. We did the adults only tour with Disney. I would go again. My husband enjoyed it as well. The ruins we interesting and impressive.

Cozumel had some great ruins too but I felt they were not the focus of the tour. To be fair, the excursion was "Highlights of Cozumel and ruins." Let's just say I was not interested in the shopping opportunities. Getting your pic with a young man dressed in Mayan garb or with an oversized Iguana sitting on my head, held no appeal. We were told we would be visiting the oldest Catholic church, built in 1521 (I think that was the date). I could be off by a year or so. Anyway, it was the SITE of the church. It had been rebuilt most recently in 1995 and the only remanent of the original was a small baptismal font located in one corner of the church.
There was a statue in the square with a plaque written in Spanish. It signified the imprisonment of someone for a time that had been liberated but I couldn't translate it well enough to really tell and no explanation was given.
If I return to Cozumel I would do the ruins again and only the ruins, probably privately.